


Leave the Rest Unspoken

by FeoplePeel



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: AU, Abandonment, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father-Daughter Relationship, M/M, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-02-20
Packaged: 2017-11-23 08:19:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeoplePeel/pseuds/FeoplePeel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Amy Pond died, she took a part of their world with her.</p><p>An AU taking place after The Power of Three and omitting the events of The Angels Take Manhattan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Amy Pond had died in the shadows.

The Doctor called them the Vashta Nerada and they had left Elystria a shattered ruin of its former glory. Rory wasn't sure what had done more damage to the planet; the shadows or the Doctor.

Even during the wedding, the war, Rory had never seen the other man so calm.

Rory traced the ring on his finger and remembered her bones.

An hour later, a solar system away, and when Rory finally spoke, his voice sounded numb to even his own ears.

“It's my fault, I should have,” Rory let his head fall on the palms of his hands. He didn't know what he should have done but he felt too weak to cry.

“No, no, Rory, it's not your fault. Sometimes things just,” the Doctor placed a hand between the man's shoulders, “the universe, it's,” he seemed to lose his focus and, eventually pulled back. “So many lives. I'm the common factor.”

Only a year ago, Rory may have blamed the Doctor. He wanted so much for some part of him to wish the Doctor dead, instead of her. If the Doctor had died, sad as it was, the Ponds would move on, as they always had. He didn't know if that was the case anymore. It probably hadn't been for a while.

And Amy was dead and Rory felt a hole in the pit of his stomach.

Knowing that the Doctor felt it, too, brought him camaraderie, but very little satisfaction.

Rory desperately pushed the image of red hair and olive eyes from his mind. What sat behind it wasn't much better.

“I want to see Melody.” He said suddenly. The Doctor jumped a little, eyes still misted over. “I want to talk to her.”

The other man ran a hand through his floppy hair, gingerly touching the controls. “All right. That's,” nodding minutely he finished in a whisper, “all right.”

*

“I'll leave you to it.” The Doctor pulled his bow tie loose, purposely not turning to face the other man in the room. “Family affairs and all.”

Rory wanted to argue that the Doctor was family. To comfort his wife's best friend, his best friend, on the eve of her demise. It was his nature, after all. Then he thought of Melody and how it was when she and the Doctor were together. How she only had eyes for him. No, there would be time enough for the two of them to grieve, later. Selfish as the thought was, Rory wanted to pretend, just for a moment, that Melody was the daughter he had _raised._

The daughter he never would.

By the time these thoughts had passed, he was sitting at a small desk in the cell of one, River Song, as he now refused to call her.

 _Melody_ sat on her bed, cross-legged and flipping through her journal. Her smile was wide. “So, where are we at, then?” 

“Just after Elystria.” Rory whispered solemnly.

“Utopian planet, robot rebellions, I know the place.” She laughed airily. When he didn't respond, she looked at him through a mass of curls. “No spoilers, mind, but are you all right, Rory?”

 _She'll always think of me as Rory._ The man thought, bitterly. _She'll never know Amy as her mother and we'll never have another chance to,_ Rory cut his thoughts short. “No, Melody, it's your mother. It's Amy.”

When the expression on his daughter's face merely softened, confusion laced through Rory. “Oh, dad.” She patted his hand in a placating manner that was, Rory noted, very similar to the Doctor's, “Did you two get into a scuffle again?”

 _She doesn't know._ The thought nearly knocked the wind from his chest. He opened his mouth to speak when her attention was drawn to the door.

“Doctor!” She sat bolt upright, her smile morphing into something more roguish. “Was wondering where you got to. I've been to Planet Zygnitrax while you were away. Oh!” Turning back to Rory and gathering up his hands in her own, she continued, face alight, “You _have_ to take mum there. Ancient civilization resembling crustations. They're fascinating--”

“–ly boring.” The Doctor finished with a roll of his eyes. “Died out because they refused to move into new shells when their own became unsuitable to the environment.”

Melody gave the man a flat look. “I was just suggesting a very _non-confrontational_ place to make up with mum.” The woman finished in a whisper. “Seems they've had a tiff.”

The Time Lord straightened the lapels of his coat. “I'm taking them to Diadem.”

“Oh, love a planet with a spa!” Melody's laugh danced in tandem with her shoulders. “A bit too domestic for my tastes. No offense, but I don't want to be there when my parents make up.”

“ _You_ set them up!”

“That's different.” Melody shrugged. “Be sure to buy me something nice, though.”

*

Rory left the prison, well and truly confused. They had bantered and said goodbye, the Doctor and she, and Rory knew, her journal was missing a few, key scenes. That the Doctor had caught on quicker than he.

The thought that lingered at the front of his mind remained, “She doesn't know.”

River Song was the Doctor's future. All of it, even Rory and Amy. If she didn't know, then maybe...

Rory looked at the Doctor, beside him inside the TARDIS door and still holding up a hand in the ghost of a wave. Rory looked, hoping against hope that everything he thought he knew was wrong, yet again.

But the Doctor was no longer smiling.

“She doesn't know because I don't tell her.”

Rory's heart sank. It was small, but the hope was still there and having it made it all the worse for losing it. “Why?” He asked, weakly.

The Doctor turned his back to him, touching a few of the knobs on the console. “I've helped destroy her more than enough for one lifetime.”

“She's clever. She'll figure it out.”

“Not from me.”

The thin man in tweed pulled a lever and the TARDIS shuddered to life. Rory didn't know where they were going. He no longer cared.

*

Rory stared at the blue door in front of him, dreading the thought of an empty home.

No, not home. He mentally scolded. He'd lived over two thousand years and one fact remained throughout. Home was where Amy Pond was. Leadworth, the TARDIS, the Pandorica, hell, anywhere with wonderful, magical Amy Pond.

“I don't know what to do, Doctor.” Rory told the man he hoped was still standing behind him.

After a few moments, “You need to _go_ , Rory.”

“Why?” He whirled on the spot, facing the Time Lord. “What in the world for? You give me one _good_ reason why walking into that miserable excuse for a house is any better than staying in the TARDIS with you.” 

Two men stared one another down on a street in Leadworth. Their eyes were very old.

The Doctor broke away first. “Because it's all to do with me, Rory. If you don't leave now, it may kill you, too.”

Rory's voice was steely. “I know and I don't care.”

“You and I are very different in that regard, Roranicus.” The other man managed a small smile. “I do care.”

“We chose you, Doctor,” Rory pushed a finger into the other man's chest. “ _I_ chose you. You don't have the right to take that away from me. Not now.”

“Rory,” The Doctor had never looked so fragile as he did now, staring straight through Rory. “You're right. You both chose me. And, now, I'm not giving you that choice.”

With a snap of his fingers, the TARDIS doors swung shut, the force of it pushing Rory back. In his mind, he launched forward, clawing at the thread of the only thing still connecting him to his wife as it disintegrated.

In reality, he turned and walked into the house with the blue door.

*

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS doors, his words, and all he didn't say, reverberating through his skull.  
 _Because I've killed your wife._  
 _I'm going to walk your daughter to her death._  
 _If you don't leave now, it may kill you too._  
 _I can't watch you die._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started and finished this before the introduction of Oswin Oswald and well before the Angels Take Manhattan. However, I've decided to rewrite it, taking both events into consideration. It's still heavily fanon, but I at least wanted a nod to Vastra and Jenny and the others that made coping with the loss of the Ponds easier for the Doctor.  
> In the original, it was just a random companion the Doctor had picked up, but I feel with the addition of Oswin and her own personal mystery, it's much more fun to write. Also, yes, Melody/River is still married to the Doctor and while I do adore their on screen chemistry, for the purposes of this story, they are flirtatious partners in trouble making.

“What day was it?”

Oswin Oswald examined the Doctor across the console. “Not sure what you mean.”

“The day I picked you up.” The man elaborated. “What day was it?”

Oswin thought back. She had only been traveling with the Doctor for a few months, but the time seemed so short. It was hard to remember things like days and food and sleep with such a person in such a place to keep her company.

“July, no, the beginning of August.” She corrected. “The fifth, I think.”

“Ah,” The Doctor nodded and the motion was a little too slow for her tastes.

“Distracted?” Oswin moved closer to him.”What’s special about August the fifth?”

“Nothing.” The Doctor looked defensive.

“August the sixth?” Oswin continued, almost robotic, “The seventh? The eighth?” Her companion flinched. “Ah! There it is. So, what’s special about August the eighth?”

“Some business I’ve left unattended for too long.” The Doctor punched a few keys on the console. Oswin watched him closely. The boyish excitement that often walked hand-in-hand with piloting the TARDIS had vanished. What was left was something much older than she could place.

“Personal business, is it?” The Doctor had never spoken of anything ‘personal’ with her, but she knew he was old. There were things she couldn’t ask about, rooms the TARDIS would not let her explore.

“I’m afraid so.” The Doctor smiled lightly. Addressing the TARDIS, he continued, “A detour, perhaps?”

*

The TARDIS dematerialized in front of Oswin and she quickly slumped from her hearty salute.

 _He’s **dumped** me, the rat-bastard_ , she thought sullenly. Of course, she realised it wasn’t a ‘dumping’, per say. If he was to _abandon_ her, surely it wouldn’t be on such a planet as this.

*

”It’s called Diadem.” The Doctor had explained, exiting the TARDIS and motioning for Oswin to follow. “The most relaxing planet in the galaxy.”

“It looks like a mall.” Oswin noted.

“It is that. And a spa and anything you want, really.” The man looked somewhat put-out at her reaction. “You know, _most_ people feel instantly at ease when they set foot on this planet.”

“Really?” Oswin crossed her arms, seemingly unimpressed.

“ _Yes,_ really.” The Doctor huffed, waving his arms a bit. “It’s in the atmosphere.”

The girl shrugged, playing with the key around her neck. “Guess I’m not most people.”

The Doctor regarded her in a way she sometimes caught from the corner of her eye. “No, you’re certainly not.”

They stared at the planet’s shifting landscape for a moment. When the Doctor turned to head back inside, she spoke. “Are you really not going to tell me what’s going on?” She had seen his sadness, but her curiosity could not be quelled.

“I _could_ have done this without telling you, you know.” He responded. “Found a way to pop off and come back without you knowing. It would only be five minutes. I’d rather you spend some time enjoying yourself.”

“And in case something happens.”

“In case something happens, you’ll be somewhere safe and you won’t try to follow me.”

Oswin stared back at him in defiance. Finally, she lowered her gaze with a defeated sigh. She wondered if any of the Doctor’s friends had this much trouble with him. She wondered if he had any other friends, at all.

“All right, but when you get back,” Oswin looked back up, a familiar spark in her eyes, “you’re telling me everything. Got it?”

*

And then he had dumped her.

 _The rat-bastard._ Oswin thought, walking towards a small hot spring she has once seen in a magazine.

Well, the Doctor _had_ said to enjoy herself.

*

Rory rubbed the grit from his eyes. His stomach felt full and his head ached as the events of the previous night slowly came back to him.

Two days and it would be a year. A year since Amy had died and the Doctor had left.

The official story was that she had disappeared on a fishing accident on one of their many vacations. HM Coast Guard gave up on her after two weeks and, while his father had supported his story, Rory had avoided Amy’s parents since the funeral.

His father was always there. He had to be, after what they referred to as ‘the incident’. Rory maintained that he wasn’t _trying_ to drown himself and Brian insisted that intent didn’t matter. Rory had thrown himself into work after that, making new acquaintances at the hospital, taking care to avoid talk of his social life, or lack thereof. His patients loved him and Rachel, a woman ten years his junior and quite obviously infatuated, had commented on it more than once.

“You’re so good with people.” She had smiled at him. “The patients always ask for you.”

“It probably helps that I work so many shifts.” Rory commented, sealing his pen with the cap and smiling back a little. “They make me happy, too.”

And he supposed it was true, that he was happiest with his patients. Taking care of them and not himself. After particularly trying shifts, he found himself wondering, guiltily, if he was only trying to forget about Amy Pond and their mad man with a box.

Rory brushed his teeth, mechanically. Rachel was Rory’s drinking companion, last night. She and Dr. Livingston, Rory's ex-therapist, a jovial fellow who often reminded Rory of the Doctor and just how much he did miss him. Apparently Rachel had some hint of what their therapy sessions had been about over the past few months and the big, worried eyes that the girl had been giving him recently made sense when she had approached him for a pint to ‘take his mind off things’.

Rory examined the growth of hair on his chin and started the same internal debate he had every morning on whether or not he should shave it off.

A noise outside, long gone and too familiar, made him drop his razor instantly.

He had gotten used to hearing the TARDIS, in the days after the Doctor left. It was all in his mind and he had spent months convincing himself as much. But this was loud and all-encompassing and as he tugged a shirt over his head, he swore he could feel the tug of the universe, calling him out.

He was downstairs, flinging the door open before the Doctor placed his first knock. Rory couldn’t sort through the emotions he was feeling. Pain, anger, excitement all warred in his mind. In the end, apathy prevailed, however feigned. The other man coughed into his upraised hand and turned his attention to the door.

“Red. How very Roman.”

“I considered a gold trim but Melody said it was too gaudy.”

“River, is she,” the Doctor trailed off, looking sheepish.

“She's not here. And she still doesn't know, if that's what you're wondering. She's only been by the once and I managed to convince her that Amy was on holiday with her parents.”

“Oh, well. Good. I suppose.”

“It's _good_ that I'm lying to my daughter?”

“Well better than,” the Doctor trailed off again. Better than the truth, was what he wanted to say, Rory was sure, and was glad he didn't.

“I can't hide it forever.” Rory leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest.

The Doctor nodded. A pause. “How long have I,”

“A year.” Rory replied before the other man had time to finish. “It's been nearly a year. How long for you?”

“A bit longer.” Rory noticed that the Doctor wasn't meeting his gaze and he didn't press the question further. “I'd hoped I'd make it in time but you know me. I do have a habit of mucking it up.”

“What are you doing here, Doctor?” There was nothing the Doctor could respond with that would make Rory feel worse, he was sure. There was only a few reasons he would turn up, now, of all days. But whatever the reason, Rory found himself afraid of the answer.

“Thought we could go on an adventure!” The other man clapped. “The Doctor and Rory the Roman!”

*

The Doctor had been startled by the red door and it kept him from knocking for quite some time.

Perhaps Rory had moved on. Maybe he shouldn’t be here at all. What if any progress the other man had made in the past year was dashed by his appearance?

His indecision had been cut short when a bedraggled man answered the door. It took the Doctor a moment to recognise him as the Rory he had abandoned.

And now he stood, arms slowly uncrossing, looking to the TARDIS then back to the man in front of him. For a moment, the Doctor feared he would be turned down and then Rory was walking past him. The TARDIS doors swung open for him without a sound and Rory looked inside, taking a great breath.

“Yes.” The Doctor turned in time to hear him say. “The Doctor and the Roman.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, sorry this took so long. I got a new job (hooray!) and life has become busy (hurray? boo? emotions?). I should have the next chapter up by the end of today to make up for the length of this one. Enjoy!

Rory stepped inside the TARDIS and felt a sense of warmth rush through him. Rory had thought of turning down the Doctor's offer and, in all honesty, was still considering it. The weariness of constantly waiting had taken its toll on him.

But then he thought of his empty bed and his friends who never knew her. The Doctor had come back for him and the TARDIS welcomed him and he felt more at home than he had in a long time.

“It looks different.” Rory said, hearing the doors shut behind him.

“A bit longer than a year.” The Doctor said, by way of explanation.

Rory fished out the familiar shape of a mobile from his pocket and punched in a few letters.

_Recipient: Dad_

_With Doctor. All’s well. Home soon, I promise._

_Recipient: Rachel_

_Message Body: Taking a sick day. Let Livingston know._

After a moment’s thought, he added,

_Thanks for last night._

His mobile screen lit up with his father’s number and Rory steadfastly ignored it.

“So, where’re we off to this time?”

*

Oswin didn’t stay in the hot spring for long. Apparently her idea of relaxation was quite different than what the planet generally offered its clientele. She was scaling the side of a cavern wall, a great length of vine wrapped tightly around her midsection. With each leap, air rushed through her hair, lifting it up with her voice in a great whoop of exhilaration.

She quite suddenly realised how dark it had become when her feet hit the cavern floor. Fishing the torch from her rucksack, she lit up the space around her. A million tiny faces, reflecting her own, stared back. She stuck out her tongue and they did the same. Pressing her finger to one of the glass pieces near her, she found it warm to the touch.

A loud crunch came from behind her and she yelped, turning on the spot. The glass shards were moving to form a dome around her and she curled into a ball to stop herself from being crushed.

*

On the other side of the planet, Rory and the Doctor lounged on a shore nearly identical to Lake Silencio. Rory found the similarities eerie but was relaxed, almost at once.

“Diadem!” The Doctor explained with a flourish. “Most relaxing planet in the galaxy. It’s in the air.” He sniffed loudly.

Rory stretched out, lazily. “Why didn’t you take us here for our honeymoon?”

“Oh, you know me,” the other man smiled, a little sadly, “newly wedded bliss? Relaxation is far too overrated.”

Rory smiled back, turning slightly to reach for his phone. It was vibrating again.

“Someone missing you?” The Doctor’s voice had some cheek to it and Rory grinned.

“Dad.” He caught the other man’s flinch.

“You should answer, let him know you’re all right.”

“So should you.” Rory responded. “I told him everything but,” he looked at him, “you should see him.”

“Your dad,” The Doctor looked stricken, “when we left, I told him,”

Rory nodded in understanding. Dad had relayed the conversation with no little anger. The Doctor pressed on, anyway.

“I said, ‘Not them. Never them’.”

“You just can’t make promises like that. Not for other people.” Rory looked up at him. “It’s not your responsibility.

“You can. You shouldn’t, but you can.” He gave a weary sigh. “And I’m old enough to know better.”

“No one’s old enough to hope.”

“I was afraid I was.” The Doctor said, voice a little lighter. Rory had begun to feel a little lighter, too, in the Doctor’s presence.

The Doctor wrung his hands in a familiar gesture. Rory found the motion oddly comforting. “I’m sorry, Rory. I’m sorry I couldn't stay with you.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you to stay.” Rory sounded petulant, even to himself. “I would have gone with you. You know I would.”

“I know.” The Doctor replied, almost placating. “But it wouldn’t have been good for you, Rory. You needed time and space,”

“And I can’t get that in a TARDIS?”

The Doctor tried, and failed, to smile, “And I needed to get better before I could help you.”

Rory had experienced the guilt himself, first hand, but he saw the cycle long before Amy, in his spiraling patients. The attempted suicides trying to help the drug addicts. The depressives trying to make their children feel better. When they hit that downward spiral, they usually did more harm than good.

Still, a small part of him felt that selfish tug. The truth he’d wanted to say since he’d been thrown back in Leadworth one year ago. “I didn’t need help. I needed my family. I _needed you_ , Doctor.”

The other man wouldn’t meet his gaze but Rory couldn’t find it in him to be angry. Perhaps it was the atmosphere. He wondered, briefly, if that was why the Doctor had brought him to such a place.

“What changed?” Rory asked and the Doctor’s eyebrows drew together. “Doctor, why did you come back?”

“Rory, when you died,” the Doctor seemed to curl into himself, “and Amy forgot everything about you, I stayed with her and helped her remember. And now she’s gone.” He took a breath. “And, whatever the reason, grief, sorrow, an old man’s bitterness, I tried to forget.”

Rory nodded mutely. He knew the feeling well.

“I don’t think we should forget her, Rory.”

“I don’t know how.” He responded, a little lost. A life without Amy Pond was hard enough, but living without even the memory of her? The idea made him ill.

“Sorry, Rory, this was meant to be,” The Doctor barked out a laughed, “fun, I suppose.”

“I’m sure we’ll get there.” Rory rubbed down the length of his face. “My therapist said I have to face everything before I can feel like I used to. You were on my list.”

The Doctor didn’t seem surprised that Rory had been seeing someone, so he didn’t elaborate. “Happy to help.”

The Doctor asked Rory about the hospital and, for the first time in a year, he found it surprisingly easy to breathe.

*

Oswin had ruled out yelling, for practical reasons, and was now banging on the glass in front of her, gently. If it _did_ falter, she could be slashed to bits. Unfortunately, this glass seemed to be made of sterner stuff.

 _Rubbish space glass._ Oswin kicked the dome and felt a great shudder.

Heaving a sigh, she crossed her legs and thought.

Glass. Strong glass. Diamonds? The Doctor had called this the most relaxing planet in the galaxy. Maybe the planet was working against her attempts to thwart relaxation?

Could planets have _moods_? Oswin thought with more than a little wonderment.

“Relaxing planet.” Oswin ground out. “Fine.”

Yoga was something her friends had been far too obsessed with, in her opinion, but she hadn’t been able to avoid the activity altogether. As she warmed up and the dome began to open slowly above her head, she had only one thought.

“This is ridiculous. And surprisingly relaxing.”

*

“A friend?” Rory lifted a brow. They were finishing the last of the picnic the Doctor had brought when the TARDIS made an alarming noise. A distress signal from a friend he had dropped off nearby. “A new companion?”

The Doctor nodded, moving around the TARDIS console, calm and focused. It surprised Rory, the anger he felt at that.

He almost didn’t recognise it. He hadn’t felt it at anyone but himself for so long.

Rory understood. The Doctor was a lonely man, even without the losses he had suffered. They had both lost their best friend and sought comfort in others. But that didn't stop the sudden rush of hurt. It was basic human decency to comfort one another in your time of need. The Doctor may not be human, but he understood that, at least.

Rory didn't have a choice. The Doctor had every one and never chose him.

And if he finally chosen him, that meant he had left his new companion too.

“You left them, alone?” Rory said through clenched teeth. Apparently whatever relaxing agent lay outside had not slipped past the TARDIS doors.

The Doctor smiled very sadly. “It’s becoming habit, I’m afraid.”

Rory didn’t know what to say after that. He wasn’t used to dealing with emotions anymore. He had found a temporary treatment in throwing himself into his work and while Livingston had encouraged the process, he warned that it was just that: temporary.

“I’m so,” Rory grabbed his elbows hard, “angry.”

“Would you like to yell at me?” The Doctor seemed almost childlike in his response and Rory rolled his eyes.

“No.” He rubbed his eyes and joined the Doctor at the console. “Your friend’s in trouble, right? We should focus on rescuing them.”

The Doctor looked a little wary at the suggestion. “ _In_ trouble? Unlikely. _Causing_ trouble?” He grinned at Rory boyishly. “Undoubtedly.”

Rory looked at the other man’s face and thought. If he had had every choice, all of time and space, like the Doctor, would he have run? Even after all of the years, no, he would have stayed and soothed and lost himself in taking care of his companion.

But that’s why they were different, the Doctor and he. And that’s why Rory had to stay.

He ignored the mobile in his pocket, once more, silently promising to call back soon, and pressed a few buttons on the console. The TARDIS hummed under his fingers. “I was told there was going to be an adventure.”

The Doctor’s grin widened. “Likely they’ll have the planet coming down around our ears before dinner!”

“They?”

The Doctor slid a small screen on the console towards Rory and he bent over to examine it. A small woman with dark hair was being pulled out of a pit on the ground by none other than Melody Pond.


	4. Chapter 4

Oswin lay on her back looking up at the cavern mouth high above her. She could climb out, she reasoned, but that was just so much work. And it was so nice and warm at the bottom of her little cave.

She felt something familiar tugging at her brain, looking up at the bright light. Pulling out her mobile she, rather lazily, called for the Doctor.

“Sorry, sweetie,” a voice answered near her ear what could have been hours later, but only seemed like seconds, “the Doctor’s busy with his nurse. Looks like you’re stuck with me.”

*

“River!”

“Doctor!”

“I would ask what you’re doing here but the answer seems a bit obvious now.” The Doctor grinned widely between the two women. “So, how did you find us?” He pulled out his journal and began flipping through the pages.

Melody held up her wrist. “Hooked up the vortex manipulator to the TARDIS’ distress beacon a long time ago.”

The girl Melody had pulled from the mouth of a gaping hole in the ground was covered in dirt, but she didn’t seem affected. On the contrary, her eyes sparked. Rory knew immediately why the Doctor had chosen her.

“Oswin! Oswin Oswald!” Rory blinked, shaking her hand with the bit of enthusiasm she had tugged out of him. The name rang a bell, but he couldn’t quite place her face. “Close call, huh?”

The Doctor was examining the pit with great curiosity. “It’s not the planet’s usual fare.”

“Seems the more I fought it, the more it wanted to suck me down.” Oswin was back beside the Doctor. Their banter reminded Rory, uncomfortably, of Melody and he chose to focus on her instead. She looked older than when he’d last seen her, a little more somber, too. He had never seen her hair so tame, though the curls still stood out dramatically.

“The whole planet wants to shut you out.” The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver whirred ahead of him. “That’s not right.” The screwdriver shut down with a snap. “This place is a product of what we think and feel.” He looked her over once. “Let’s get back in the TARDIS.” Giving a more pointed look at Melody who quickly feigned innocence, he added, “All of us.”

“Just like that?” Oswin’s brow furrowed. “This place tried to kill me!”

“And it still wants to,” Melody was punching a few keys into the device on her wrist. The others did not seem to notice.

The Doctor rounded on Oswin, “Just you, mind, so whatever it is that’s causing this, we can figure out far away from here.”

Rory grabbed Melody’s hand and she stilled looking up at him, very slowly. With a small smile, she let go of her other wrist and they followed the others inside.

*

The Doctor knew it had something to do with her dying.

Or living, as the case was now.

Oswin Oswald. Clara. Souffle girl. She was impossible. A paradox. The universe was trying to right itself the only way it knew how.

The TARDIS had picked up on it before he had. She’d tried to warn him, he knew. But the TARDIS was kind and still too long. She craved adventure as much as he did. So they would figure her out together, instead. They wouldn’t lose another.

He watched the two others talk in the kitchen, Oswin swift and buoyant, Rory calm and attentive.

He hadn’t planned for them to meet. Thinking on it, he probably hadn’t planned at all. What did he expect Rory to do, once they’d spoken? Leave?

Well, probably, he admitted, playing with the red knob in front of him. It had been a year, after all.

Then again, it had _only_ been a year. A year wasn’t long for a Pond to wait, he thought with grim satisfaction.

“Find anything?” River’s voice sounded beside him, interrupting his thoughts.

“Temporal flux.” He lied easily, feeling the TARDIS settle to a quiet hum.

“Hmm,” The woman gazed from under her lashes, clearly skeptical. She was too clever by half. “Probably should have recognized that before you dropped her off.”

“I was,” The Doctor huffed, looking to Rory, who was staring at the kettle. “distracted, is all.”

“Where are we then?” River flipped through her own journal now. “After the Bone Meadows, I presume.”

“A little ways.” The Doctor replied. “Though you were still in Stormcage the last time we saw you.”

“I wasn’t when I went to check on dad.” River shut the book, giving him a significant look. “Just after Elystria for you, then?”

_She knows._

The Doctor swallowed, his brows drawing together. “How did you,” he couldn’t quite finish and River took pity on him, reaching over and patting his, consolingly.

“Spoilers.” She replied, somewhat weary.

*

“And she’s your daughter?” Oswin sipped her tea and Rory nodded. The woman shook her head in wonderment. “Time travel.”

“Basically.” Rory snorted.

“And she’s in jail?”

Rory seemed to think about this for a moment. “Sometimes. Time travel, remember?” Rory smiled. “She’ll like you. She likes clever.”

Oswin puffed a bit. The woman at the console was sharp and fierce. Oswin examined the easy manner she had with the Doctor and stood a little straighter, attempting an imitation of her cool poise.

Even across the room, the woman, Melody, noticed and gave her an affectionate smile that felt extraordinarily familiar.

Oswin raised her hand in a little wave, smiling back.

*

The Doctor was explaining something technical to Oswin, who was assuring him she understood the mechanics and he needn't be so snobbish about it, thank you very much. They were becoming increasingly loud and Melody, amused until that point, escaped into the kitchen.

Rory was cornered.

He knew she wondered where her mother was. At least in Leadworth, where her visits were short and nearly intangible, he could weave a falsehood. Here, he was trapped. There had been no such Rory that existed without Amy. Not in the TARDIS. 

He let out a slow breath.

“Melody,” Rory took his daughter’s hand and held it for a moment, “about Amy.”

“I know, dad.” Rory squeezed her hand hard, but said nothing. “You’re going to tell me. Soon, but not this night.” She threaded her fingers through his. “Don’t waste your confession on me.”

“Did you come,” he swallowed, “come to tell me that?”

“No.” Melody admitted quietly, pulling away. She pressed her back against the counter beside him, leaning into his shoulder slightly. "I've still a career." She replied cheekily. "I was on the way to a job. I just came to help out a friend."

Rory looked in the direction of the two still bickering figures and raised an eyebrow. "Is Oswin in that blue book of yours, Melody?" He held up a finger. "And don't you 'spoilers' me, young lady."

Melody gave him a fond smile. She opened her mouth and seemed to think better of it, her grin shifting to something more cheeky.

 _More River Song._ Rory thought, with a chuckle and no little exasperation.

"She's in another little book." She winked and Rory let his face fall into his hand.

"Why do you tell me these things?"

"Why do you ask questions you don't want answering?" Melody replied, a little too seriously, and Rory forced himself to meet her gaze.

Her eyes were soft, though she no longer smiled.

"Just something to think about, dad." She said, finally looking away.

Rory nodded mutely and promised himself he would.

*

"Sure you can't stay a while?"

Oswin had hugged River goodbye and Rory had left the Doctor with the unenviable task of trying to convince his sometimes wife into staying with them a little longer.

Luckily, they both knew it was a long shot.

"Sorry," River punched in a few codes to the Vortex Manipulator. "I'm in the middle of a job."

The Doctor eyed her wrist. Hadn't he deactivated that? "Where _do_ you keep finding those?"

"Archeologist." She smirked, by way of explanation, only growing more delighted at his scoff.

"Rory is," The Doctor bit his lip, "he's not doing well."

"Neither are you, by the look of things." She eyed him and he released a weary sigh. "You two need each other more than you need me."

"River, that's not true." He touched the back of her hand lightly and was only a little surprised when she pulled it away to brush the hair from her eyes. He switched tactics. "What about you?"

"Me?" She smirked, a trace of bitterness lacing her words. "I'm through it." She couldn't face him and the Doctor was painfully reminded that all this had passed for her.

Who knew how long ago she had heard of Amy's passing. It could have been years for her. And here they were, poking at old scars.

"Don't worry, Doctor." She smiled, finally looking at him. "We'll see each other again soon. In the mean time, I have a date with a few good books."

 _That_ caught his attention. "River. Where are you going?" He asked, very seriously.

"Sorry, husband." Tapping the device on her wrist once more, she grinned. "Spoilers."

River Song disappeared.

*

Whatever Melody said had rattled the Doctor.

With time travel, it probably doesn't take much, Rory suspected. 

He hadn't spoken to them since she departed well over an hour ago and Oswin filled the silence asking awkward questions about the Doctor and Melody's relationship. Rory answered them as best he could, but steered her towards safer topics whenever possible.

Talking about Melody eventually meant talking about Amy.

Rory wasn't sure he was ready to have that conversation with a new companion.

“You’re staying, right?” Oswin swung an arm over Rory’s shoulders and he slouched with the sudden impact of it. “You know what they say, two’s company, three’s a crowd! Always room for a crowd in a TARDIS, right, Doctor?”

The Doctor looked straight at Rory and he couldn't possibly tell what the other was thinking.

Did he want to bring him back to Leadworth? Did he want him to stay?

Was he thinking, too, of the third who was here before?

Looking at the Doctor always made him think of Amy. Did looking at Rory always make the Doctor think of her, too?

Whatever it was, Rory would never know. The Doctor nodded and Oswin clung tighter to the body beside her.

The TARDIS hummed around them and Rory wondered what she was thinking, too.


End file.
